New, and Improved (TAaP-verse)
by Earendil Eldar
Summary: (Set after "A New Face", also TAaP-verse). The last time Jack and Ianto saw the Doctor, things were a bit frosty. But a visit now that they've all settled in a bit more has much warmer results.


"Fancy the Sauv Blanc tonight?"

"Ooh, is that some kinky new activity?" Jack leered from the stove.

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Wine, Jack."

"Oh. Well, is it going to be flinty enough to stand up to the mustard?"

"You don't know what Sauvignon Blanc is, but you know the wine needs to be 'flinty' to pair properly? What planet are you from?"

"Boeshane," Jack pouted.

Ianto couldn't help smiling and wrapping his arms around Jack from behind, kissing the back of his neck. Jack's squeak when Ianto slipped his wine-fridge-chilled hands up under Jack's shirt was highly satisfying.

"I'll get you for that," Jack grumbled.

"Counting on it," Ianto smirked, stroking Jack's bottom as he left the kitchen to turn on some music on the living room. Glancing out the front window, he wondered how the shortening days always seemed to take him by surprise. How could the sun be setting at only just passed 6:00… like it did every year at this time?

Peering out into the gloaming shadows of their front drive, Ianto realized there was someone walking up the front way. With something strapped to their back. Old Torchwood instinct took over and Ianto found himself pressed against the wall beside the window, peering out from beside the curtain to conceal his presence. In another time in his life, he'd already have his handgun drawn and cocked.

As the visitor got closer, Ianto realized it wasn't an axe-wielding maniac. Just the Doctor with, interestingly, an electric guitar. He supposed that made his first guess about right after all.

"Jack," Ianto called to the back of the house. "Did you invite Keith Richards to dinner?"

"Huh? No. Haven't seen him since that morning I woke up between him and Mick." Jack paused and chuckled nostalgically. "Apparently, a very well-known song was written later that afternoon. I may have been a little chatty the night before. Still, nobody took anything literally in those days. Why?" Jack called back.

Ianto shook his head. He might have known. "Well, a very good impression of him is walking up the drive just now."

"What?" Jack set the timer for his simmering chicken in mustard sauce and joined Ianto by the front window. Jack sighed. "He does turn up unannounced, doesn't he?"

The Doctor's last visit hadn't been particularly cosy but Ianto had seen to it that he and Jack hadn't parted on bad terms. Ianto hoped the Doctor had had a little more time to settle into his current regeneration, as the last time he hadn't seemed quite all there yet. Not that the Doctor ever seemed all there that Ianto could tell.

Jack had moved to the door and Ianto decided he'd best be on-hand to diffuse those two alpha personalities if any tension bubbled up.

"Ah, Jack!" the Doctor called, seeing Jack step out of the doorway. "Hope I'm not late. You never said what time."

"Time for what, Doctor?" Jack asked.

"For dinner, of course. I called yesterday to let you know… oh, wait. What's today?"

"Thursday," Ianto supplied. "The 8th. October. 2015."

"The 8th…? Oh…. Well, expect a call tomorrow afternoon, then. Don't answer it, or this evening will probably never happen. Those tiny loops are the trickiest to sort out."

Jack and Ianto exchanged looks. Some things never changed.

"Not interrupting anything am I? I could always just pop back in a couple days…."

"Except that it would probably end up being a couple days _plus_ three years," Jack said. "Come on in, Doc, we've got plenty."

"Excellent. I brought dessert," the Doctor said, producing a cigarette case.

Ianto somehow managed to school his expression into his old standard 'gracious host' and not 'what am I meant to do with this bloody weirdo in my home?' "Thanks, but I'll decline. Haven't smoked in years."

The Doctor looked puzzled. "I didn't imagine they'd caramelize well," he said, opening the case to reveal an assortment of Jelly Babies.

Jack grinned and Ianto felt relieved that Jack seemed to be feeling much warmer about his old friend than the last time. "Does the light bother you?" Ianto asked solicitously. "I could dim the bulbs or light candles. I only ask because it's been a bit grey out there all day… for sunglasses, that is."

"Oh. Don't reckon I'll need the sonic. Sometimes forget I've got them on," the Doctor said, slipping them into his jacket pocket.

"Sonic?" Jack said with a raised brow. "Sonic _sunglasses_? You can't be serious."

The Doctor just shrugged. "Haven't had as many cabinets needing put up in recent years. UV rays, on the other hand…."

"Is that sonic as well?" Ianto asked, nodding to the guitar across the Doctor's back.

The Doctor gave him a strange look. "Of course it is. That's the whole point of it. A guitar that produces no sound is generally, as I understand it, referred to as an air-guitar. Which isn't strictly accurate, of course, because air-guitar music is very popular on some planets with denser atmosphere."

Ianto took a long breath. "Right. Wine, gentlemen?" Ianto didn't wait for a response before bee-lining to the kitchen to pour three glasses. He had the feeling he might need it.

"So, uh… what is with the guitar?" Jack asked, gesturing toward the living room.

The Doctor shrugged, sliding the strap off deftly. "I'm musical. Used to play the recorder, a very long time ago. That seemed to annoy people a bit, for some reason. Anyway, Welsh people like music, don't they? Singing. A lot of singing."

"Singing is kinda big, yeah," Jack said with a grin, thinking of the times he'd 'caught' Ianto singing in the shower or while cleaning. Particularly vigorous work was most often accompanied by 'Men of Harlech'. He'd heard it often enough echoing through the Torchwood archives to have considered it their unofficial anthem.

"Assuming that smile isn't one of those completely confusing 'I'm really quite sad but I'm smiling about it anyway' ones, you look happy here, Jack."

"I am happy, Doctor. Happier than I've ever been in my life," Jack assured him.

"Not to be Doctor Downer, but… what happens… later?"

Jack gave him a look. "I don't give it much thought, Doctor. I know it'll happen, eventually. Sometimes it threatens to invade my thoughts, but I don't let it. We have the time now, whatever time it is. The whole thing is that I wasted what time we had before, being an idiot and a coward, and I'm not going to do that again. Every single day, Doc, I make sure he knows I love him. That's all there really is."

"What's really going to happen to you, Jack, after him?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. But it won't be what might have happened to me the last time I lost him. It will be hell, of course. And there's a significant possibility that I might not ever love like this again. But it'll be ok, because I'll have had this, _we_ will have had this, as fully as he and I both deserve. No amount of time will ever take that from me."

The Doctor sat looking at Jack for a long while. He considered what he knew, or had long suspected, about the extent of Jack's life and the role he had to play just before his power of revivification finally drained. He considered the impossible possibility of making Jack and Ianto the same offer he'd made Ashildr. And then he decided. Things were right just as they were. Far too much to go wrong when eternity was involved.

After a moment, Ianto returned with three glasses of sauvignon blanc. "Your chickens were done, Jack. I set an extra place and plated them. Shall we?"

* * *

Later that night, after the Doctor departed with a promise to get the day right next time he called round for dinner, Jack joined Ianto on the couch for an after dinner cup of coffee that was indistinguishable from fully-caffeinated.

It was as Jack had told the Doctor, since he'd got Ianto back and they started settling into their new post-Torchwood lives, he'd avoided thinking about the fact that he would eventually have to say goodbye. But Jack knew that the occasional reminder wasn't necessarily a bad thing, either. Not a day passed that he and Ianto didn't exchange 'I love yous', and never the rote sort, but sometimes a little extra effort was warranted.

Finishing his coffee, Jack got up and went to the antique record player in the corner of the room. Turning it on, he went back to the couch and held out his hand to Ianto.

Ianto smiled and accepted the invitation, moving into Jack's arms where he fit so perfectly. "What's the occasion?" Ianto asked, his cheek against Jack's as they moved slowly and sensuously together.

"No occasion at all, my love," Jack said, holding Ianto close. "No occasion at all."


End file.
